Collaboration portal

ABSTRACT

A system and related method manage a collaboration portal. The method comprises receiving, from a transferor resource, transfer information, which comprises identification of resources for a future transfer, identification of transferees comprising the transferees to whom the resources will transfer to in the future, transfer instructions related to the future transfer of the resources to the transferees, and access instructions that allow the transferees to access the resource transfer information. The resource transfer information is stored in a memory of the collaboration portal. The method further comprises, receiving, from a transferee, via a network interface, a request to access the resource transfer information, and providing, to the transferee, limited access to the resource transfer information based on the access instructions, using a processor of the collaboration portal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

A system and method are provided for operating a collaboration portaland associated databases in the context of a future transfer ofresources between entities.

BACKGROUND

In situations where it is desirable to facilitate a future transfer ofresources from one entity to other entities, it is often difficult toensure that the transfer ensues in an optimal way, particularly wherethe nature of the future transfer of the resources is complex and whenresources to transfer may have attributes that change.

Such a situation may occur when, for example, a benefactor desires totransfer their assets to various beneficiaries under certain conditions,like the death of the benefactor. In these types of situations,coordinating such resource transfers may become complex, particularlywhere aspects of the resources, such as value, and circumstancesassociated with the resources, change over time. Furthermore,communications in this context may be difficult given limited accessthat participants may have to relevant information about the resources.

SUMMARY

A computer-implemented method is provided for managing a collaborationportal transfer database. The method comprises receiving, from atransferor resource, transfer information, which comprises a list ofresources for a future transfer, transferees comprising the transfereesto whom the resources will transfer to in the future, transferinstructions related to the future transfer of the resources to thetransferees, and access instructions that allow the transferees toaccess the resource transfer information. The resource transferinformation is stored in a memory of the collaboration portal. Themethod further comprises, receiving, from a transferee, via a networkinterface, a request to access the resource transfer information, andproviding, to the transferee, limited access to the resource transferinformation based on the access instructions, using a processor of thecollaboration portal.

A system is also provided for managing a collaboration portal transferdatabase. The system comprises a hardware processor, a storage devicecomprising a nonvolatile memory and is connected to the hardwareprocessor. The memory comprises resource transfer information, made upof a list of resources for a future transfer, transferees comprising thetransferees to whom the resources will transfer to in the future,transfer instructions related to the future transfer of the resources tothe transferees, and access instructions that allow the transferees toaccess the resource transfer information. The system further comprises anetwork interface via which a request to access the resource transferinformation is received from a transferee. The system limits access tothe resource transfer information based on the access instructions isprovided, utilizing the processor, to the transferee.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided thatincludes instructions that when executed by a processor, cause theprocessor to execute the above-described method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter or numeric suffixes may represent different instancesof similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way ofexample, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed inthe present document.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates an implementation of acollaboration portal system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart that illustrates an example process relatingprimarily to transferor activities.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that illustrates an example process relatingprimarily to transferee activities.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a machine that may be a computeron which various processes described herein may be performed.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a distributed computing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A collaboration portal may be provided that, for example, facilitatesthe assignment of resources and enhances communications between atransferor and a transferee. This portal may further search forpotential transferees that may be provided to the transferor forconsideration as actual transferees. The portal may also facilitatecommunications between a transferor and the potential transferees.Various tools are provided to assist both the transferor and transfereeto make better use of the resources stored in the portal.

FIG. 1 illustrates one implementation of a collaboration portal system10, which is a technical system that includes the collaboration portal100 along with external entities that interface with it, for example,the transferor 20, transferee 30, and other external entities, such aspotential transferees 40, and external databases 50. It also includesnetworks that interconnect the entities and enable communication betweenthem.

The collaboration portal 100 may be implemented as a web-basedapplication, as a mobile application, or any form of a client-serverarchitecture. For example, a user (transferor 20, transferee 30, orother person) may access a web site that serves as an interface for thecollaboration portal 100. After logging in to authenticate themselves tothe portal 100, the user may view a screen that displays resourcesstored within the portal 100 and various metadata attributes associatedwith those resources. The collaboration portal 100 may comprise toolsthat allow viewing, sorting/organizing, and updating the metadataassociated with the objects.

Similarly, the collaboration portal 100 may be implemented as an app ona smartphone, with a user interface portion being displayed on it, andthe data and tools for interacting with a server-side portion of thecollaboration portal 100 may be accessed over a network. Any of thesemechanisms, or any other similar ones, may be used to presentinformation related to the collaboration portal 100 to the user.

An implementation described herein is the application of such acollaboration portal system 10 to a system that deals with assettransfers, and in particular, with a benefactor who wishes to transferassets, which are a type of resources, to beneficiaries at some time inthe future. In this case, the transferor of the system 10 describedabove is the benefactor 20, the transferee is the beneficiary 30, andthe resources to be transferred are the benefactor's assets. However,this is only one implementation, and the system 10 is not limited to anapplication involving a transfer of assets between a benefactor 20 andbeneficiaries 30, but could involve any resource transfer betweenentities that wish to collaborate on the nature and aspects of theresource transfers. The types of assets may be numerous, and include,for example, existing real estate property, with potential linkages toexternal data sources used to detail or value the property, stocks,bonds, accounts, art, jewelry, animals, private companies, and evenitems such as contacts.

In one implementation, a benefactor 20 has a number of assets that hewishes to transfer to one or more beneficiaries 30 upon the occurrenceof an event. Typically, the event would be the death of the benefactor20, and in known systems, the instrument for transferring the assetswould be a will. However, the event may be anything and does notnecessarily have to relate to the benefactor 20. For example, thetransfer could occur when a beneficiary 30 achieves some goal, such ascompleting college or getting married.

The collaboration portal 100 makes organizing the transfer easy. In oneimplementation, information about the asset transfer is located in aresource transfer database 110, which may contain resource transferinformation, including, for example, an identification (e.g., in theform of a list) of resources/assets 115 that the benefactor 20 wishes totransfer in the future. It may contain an identification (e.g., in theform of a list) of beneficiaries/transferees 120 that the benefactor 20wishes to transfer the assets to. To provide such a list, the benefactormay access, for example, a web page on the collaboration portal andselect the assets to add/edit metadata associated with the assets.

The database 110 may also contain transfer instructions 125, which maybe in the form of a digital will. The digital will 125 may be anelectronic word processing document. However, it may be beneficial topermit a tagging of the digital will 125 to assist in the retrieval andmodification of various will sections. The tagging may include semantictags as metadata that identify sections of the will, beneficiaries ofthe will (and their respective assets, including a compensationstatement), access control information for various portions of the will,a description of the assets, etc.

The tagging could also provide for conditions of transfer (e.g., age,college degree) and tags to assist in tax reporting. The collaborationportal 100 may be configured to monitor how well the beneficiaries 30are tracking to meet conditions associated with the transfer of theassets. The collaboration portal 100 may also be used to assist thebeneficiaries 30 in disposing of their assets if they do not want them.For example, the collaboration portal 100 could be used by thebenefactor 20 to tag an art collection with an art gallery that may bewilling to buy the art collection in the event that the assignedbeneficiary 30 did not want to keep the art collection.

The use of these tags could make the digital will 125 more searchableand allow it to be restructured or reordered in real time, and the tagsmay be used as descriptive information in a matching routine 105,described in more detail below. The tagging may also identify“bookkeeping” information, such as law firms involved, key dates (forexample, dates related to transfers, conditions, etc.), revisionhistory, who is the keeper of the will, etc. The benefactor 20 may,through the collaboration portal 100, request changes to the digitalwill 125 or request help or information or clarity around certaindigital will elements. When changes to the digital will 125 requirewitnesses, access to the portal 100 for witnesses may be provided, andauthenticated digital signatures may be attached to the digital will125. The tagging could also ensure that the correct beneficiary 30 orindividual is associated with the resource, providing correct name orgroup, contact information, etc., to facilitate execution of the digitalwill 125.

The collaboration portal 100 may provide access to the contents of theresource transfer database 110 to the beneficiaries 30. This permits asignificant degree of transparency to facilitate communications betweenthe benefactor 20 and the beneficiaries 30. However, completetransparency may not be desirable for a number of reasons. For example,if one child were to receive more of the assets in an inheritance, theparent may not want the children to be aware of this. Thus, the systemmay provide access control 140 in which the benefactor 20 may specifywhich of the beneficiaries 30 (and possibly others 40, 50) may accesswhat information in the resource transfer database 110, thus providinglimited access to the information. The access control 140 may utilizetraditional username and password authentication, but may also utilizebiometric data, such as voice, fingerprint, iris, etc. The level ofauthentication may vary based on the value of assets being transferredto the beneficiary. The access control 140 could allow anonymization ofsensitive information, such as the presence of a mistress among thebenefactors 30.

For example, each of two children (beneficiaries 30) may be able to seethe assets designating them for transfer and possibly the value of thoseassets, without being able to see the assets of the other. In this way,the beneficiary 30 may track their designated asset but not those ofothers.

In many cases, all benefactors 30 are known to the benefactor 20.However, this is not always the case. For example, a benefactor 30 mayhave an art collection that she would like to donate to a museum.However, she is not sure which museum would be most suitable for her artcollection. To assist the benefactor 30 in locating suitablebeneficiaries, the collaboration portal 100 may provide a matchingroutine 105 for helping to match potential beneficiaries 40 with assets.In one implementation, descriptive information may be provided by thetransferor 20 as metadata tags associated with the assets. In anotherimplementation, the descriptive information may be obtained from someother source. This descriptive information may be used as searchcriteria for database queries, web searches, and the like. Potentialbeneficiaries 40 may submit their information to the collaborationportal 100 in advance of inquiries so that the collaboration portal 100does not have to access external data in order to respond to a matchinquiry at the time of inquiry. In one implementation, the potentialbeneficiaries 40 may be provided limited access, via access control 140,to assets that might be of interest to them. This limited access couldbe in a form of anonymized data, or values associated with the asset.

In an alternative implementation, the matching routine 100 may use anetwork, such as the Internet, to access potential beneficiaries basedon the inquiry.

Using the above example, if the benefactor 30 has an art collectionasset that is heavily weighted with impressionist art, the matchingroutine 105 could locate museums that specialize in or emphasizeimpressionist art as those being potential matches for the artcollection. Other criteria may be used by the matching routine 105, suchas the reputation of the museum or the rates the museum charges forentry.

The matching routine 105 may use various mechanisms to determine adegree of matching between a particular asset and potentialbeneficiaries 40. It may utilize a weighted factor analysis that looksat keywords, or it may apply artificial intelligence techniques and/orutilize heuristic rules when considering a degree of matching.Additionally, the benefactor 20 may provide additional emphasis criteriato help determine the weighting—for example, the benefactor may indicatea preference for hospitals or organizations that provide food andshelter for the homeless. The matching routine 105 could further utilizeexternal data sources 50, such as social media, news web sites,government and public databases, web crawlers, etc. to obtaininformation about potential matching beneficiaries, but it may alsoutilize information that has been provided to the collaboration portal100 by the benefactor 20.

In one embodiment, the organization providing the collaboration portal100 services may be able to provide recommended potential beneficiaries40, based on its knowledge of both the potential beneficiaries 40 andbenefactor 20. It could also provide a premium for potentialbeneficiaries who are already engaged with the organization providingthe collaboration portal 100.

In addition to providing organizational matches for the asset, thematching routine 105 may also attempt to locate relatives that thebenefactor 20 may consider an appropriate benefactor 30. To that end,the matching routine 105 may try to connect to external data sources 50,such as genealogical databases (e.g., containing GEDCOM files), publicrecords, and the like, to locate relatives that the benefactor 20 mayhave forgotten about.

The matching routine 105 may then present a list of potentialbeneficiaries 40 to the benefactor 20, possibly with a description andan indication of the relevance or degree of matching. For example, afirst and second museum might make the list of potential beneficiaries40, but the first may specialize in modern art, whereas the second mayspecialize in impressionist art. Both may be listed, but the secondmuseum specializing in impressionist art may be given a higher rankingor correlation as being a better fit for the benefactor's 20impressionist art collection asset. Similarly, an identified niece mighthave a higher ranking or correlation than a second cousin, once removed,due to the family tree proximity of the niece. The external data sources50 may include genealogical databases, social media databases,government databases, and other public databases.

Recommendations made by the matching routine 105 may be based on othercriteria, for example, a percentage of proceeds used for administration,a popularity ranking among beneficiaries, or level of involvement withthe owner of the collaboration portal 100. In one implementation, thepotential beneficiaries 40 may be allowed to contact and/or communicatewith the benefactor 20 the desirability of having them as a benefactor.

Once the benefactor 20 has reviewed the list of potential beneficiaries,she may decide to designate one or more of the potential beneficiariesas actual beneficiaries 30. A checkbox, button, or any form of userinterface mechanism may be provided to the benefactor to designate thepotential beneficiary as an actual beneficiary.

One potential additional role for the matching routine 105 according toan implementation, may be to assist the benefactors 30 for whom atransfer of assets has already occurred, to locate a suitable purchaserfor the asset. For example, if the benefactor 30 received a valuableautomobile when her father died, but then decided she would rather havethe cash, the matching routine 105 could present a list of potentialpurchasers (or management companies, if the benefactor would ratherreceive an income stream from allowing others to use the asset, such asrenting a home). In an alternative implementation, the owner of thecollaboration portal could auction off the assets and provide theproceeds to the beneficiaries 30.

The collaboration portal 100 may then provide a too having an easy wayfor the benefactor 20 to assign some of her assets to one or more of thebeneficiaries 30. The beneficiaries 30 may include only those initiallyprovided by the benefactor and/or those selected from the list ofpotential beneficiaries 40. In one example, the beneficiaries 30 arelisted on one side of a display monitor, and the assets are listed onanother side. The benefactor 20 may then drag and drop asseticons/graphics onto beneficiary icons/graphics. The drag and drop couldalso allow an additional tagging of information to accompany the linkingbetween beneficiary 30 and asset.

More than one asset may be assigned to a beneficiary 30, and more thanone beneficiary 30 could be assigned to an asset (in which case,additional information about the division may be provided). When anasset is assigned to a beneficiary 30, an alert may be created. Thisalert may be sent to the beneficiary 30 and/or the benefactor's lawyerso that any legal necessities associated with the transfer may beinitiated. To the extent that a lawyer does not need to be involved withthe transfer, smart digital witnesses could be provided who may witnessthe transfer with an authorized digital signature, and the assignmentdoes not complete until the digital witnesses verify it.

Although a drag and drop interface is one mechanism that may beutilized, the invention is not so limited, and any form of an interfacemay be provided that permits the above-described assignment to takeplace.

The collaboration portal 100 may further comprise analytical tools 150that may be used by the benefactor 20 and/or the beneficiaries 30. Oncesuch tool is an asset analysis tool 155, which may be usable by both thebenefactor 20 and beneficiary 30. The asset analysis tool 155 mayprovide the valuation of assets as they change over time. For example,an asset that is a piece of property could be updated based on a sale ofcomps in the area, or an asset that is a vehicle could change based on abluebook price. Bank account information may be updated in real time bythe asset analysis tool 155.

The asset analysis tool 155 may provide a way for the benefactor 20 toachieve a particular balance or ratio of allocations between thebeneficiaries 30 in order to promote fairness or achieve a certain goal.It could also provide the beneficiaries 30 with a more detailedunderstanding as to why the value of their assets change. For example,it could indicate that a reduction in the value of their assets from$200K to $175K is due to a housing slump, as opposed to the benefactorreallocating the $25K elsewhere. However, the asset analysis tool 155may also be subject to access control 140, which may be utilized topromote a sense of fairness when in fact one beneficiary sibling may bereceiving more than another.

Another analytical tool 150 may be a risk analysis tool 160, which maybe used by the benefactor 20 in planning the assignments of assets tobeneficiaries 30. Although this tool could incorporate traditionalwealth planning (e.g., high-risk investments, such as stocks, andlow-risk investments, such as municipal bonds), it may also be utilizedto indicate less traditional assessments of risk. For example, leavingassets to young children, even incorporating a guardian or trustees inthe plan, may represent more risk to the handling of the assets thanleaving assets to adult children. The risk analysis tool 160 may provideindications of risk and also make recommendations when more riskyalternatives, such as using non-family trustees, are included. The riskanalysis tool 160 may provide checklists that may be utilized to helpmitigate against more risky assignments. It may present a risk profileto the benefactor 20 that extends into the future, showing, for examplethat assets such a car and house become less of a financial risk as thebenefactor 20 ages. It may be used to recommend investments, strategies,mentors, amounts to put in retirement accounts, etc. Risk may also be afunction of time (change over day, week, month, year, lifetime), maximumpercentage, or dollar gain/loss.

A further analytical tool 150 may be a long-term planning tool 165. Thistool could incorporate features such as elder care planning, and couldmake such features transparent so that certain beneficiaries 30 couldunderstand precisely how the money is being allocated and make age-basedadjustments that are based on the age of the benefactor or beneficiary.For example, the long-term planning tool 165 could suggest maintaining$300K up until age 70 for a retirement home, maintaining $200K up untilage 80, and maintaining $100K up until age 90. Beneficiary 30 childrencould see how this dollar amount changes over the years and make theirown plans accordingly. It could also provide information to thebeneficiaries 30 as to recommend which assets they may wish to sellfirst, based on market value, tax treatment, etc.

The long-term planning tool 165 may also incorporate a loan feature thatpermits a beneficiary 30 to take out a loan against an asset that theyhave been designated to receive at a future date. For example, if thebeneficiary 30 has been assigned to receive a rare automobile upon thebenefactor's 20 death, the beneficiary 30 may be able to take out a loanfor a new home, using the future inheritance of the rare automobile ascollateral. In one implementation, the conditions for such a loan may bespecified by the benefactor 20. For example, the benefactor may specifythat such a loan may be taken out for a new home or education, but maynot be taken out for a vehicle.

Another analytical tool 150 may be a historical database 170. Thishistorical database may use, for example, anonymized information aboutwhat other similarly situated individuals have done in terms ofallocating resources, possibly with an indication, where known, of theresults of such allocations. For example, it may illustrate a differencebetween investing assets in stocks vs. bonds for a thirty-year old. Itmay also implement a knowledge base that incorporates artificialintelligence routines to make recommendations and incorporate aquestions/answers utility to help benefactors 20 (and beneficiaries 30)better manage their assets.

The collaboration portal 100 may facilitate communications between thebenefactor 20 and beneficiaries 30 (including potential beneficiaries40). It may allow beneficiaries to join in the process of allocation toindicate certain assets that they might prefer over others. Thecollaboration portal 100 may be utilized to inventory the assets of thebenefactor 20 and provide reports of the assets, either on demand,periodically, or in response to some event. It may utilize a voice-basedintelligent interface (such as Siri) to ease interactions, but may alsouse more standard tools like web-based chat forums, email, etc. It mayalso include an avatar image of the benefactor 20 and/or beneficiaries30, and users may be able to interact in a virtual reality (VR)environment. The benefactor 20 may also include messages, e.g., via theavatar, to pass on to the beneficiaries 30 after he is gone. Thesemessages could be simply well wishes or could contained detailedinformation as to why certain decisions related to assets were made.

The collaboration portal 100 may be multi-generational so thatbeneficiaries may build on it over generations. It may include aninheritance meter for metering out distributions of assets over time,and permit skipping a generation, if desired.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart that summarizes an implementation of a process 200that may be used by the collaboration portal 100 when interacting with atransferor 20. In operation S210, the portal 100 may receive a list ofresources and transferees 30 from the transferor 20. In an exampleweb-based implementation discussed above, the transferor 20 may enterthese lists and related descriptions as metadata into, for example, aweb-based form shown on a display of their computer that is connectedvia a network to a server of the collaboration portal 100. In anotherimplementation, the resource and transferee information may be importedfrom another source, such as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or otherinventory program. The data for the resources and transferees may beplaced in the resource transfer database 110 that resides, for example,on the collaboration portal 100 server in a memory and/or a non-volatiledata store, and may be segregated into the resources/assets data 115,transferees data 120, and transfer instructions/digital will 125.

In operation S215, a utility may be provided to the transferor 20 forassociating the resources with the transferees 30. This may be a toolthat is a part of the collaboration portal 100. By way of example, aweb-based screen display could present a list, or some other form ofvisual representation, of resources on the left-hand part of thedisplay, and the transferees 30 on the right-hand of the display, andthe transferor 20 could drag and drop a resource onto one or moretransferees 30, and/or could drag and drop a transferee 30 onto one ormore resources. A line could be displayed connecting the two, andselection of the line could prompt the transferor 20 to provideadditional information about the connection (e.g., conditions related tothe transfer, timing, etc.) Other display mechanisms showing aconnection or relationship between a transferee 30 and a resource couldbe utilized as well, such as a mouse hover revealing, for example, asemi-transparent window with related information.

In operation S220, the portal 100 may receive access control informationfrom the transferor 20 in order to restrict access to information aboutthe resources and their relationships with the transferees 30. Thiscould be performed, according to an implementation, by the transferor 20selecting one or more entities that may comprise each individualresource, a group of resources, each individual transferee, and/or agroup of transferees, and specifying read/write/change/delete/controlattributes (or any other type of control access attribute) as it relatesto the respective entity. The access control information 140 could bestored in a memory of the collaboration portal 100.

By way of example, the transferor could restrict transferees 30 fromwriting any changes as to the assignment of a resource, but could allowtransferees to write notes related to a resource. In another example,the transferor 20 restricts viewing access by a transferee 30 to onlythose resources that have been assigned to the transferee 30. In thisway it is possible to prevent disputes when one transferee 30 is givenmore than another.

In operation S230, the portal 100 may locate potential transferees 40related to a particular resource. This may be performed by the matchingroutine 105 as described above.

In operation S240, this list of potential transferees 40 may bepresented to the transferor 20 by way of, for example, a listing on theweb page of the collaboration portal 100. The transferor 20 may select,using, for example, a mouse interacting with the display listing, someof the potential transferees 40 to make them actual transferees 30. Inoperation S250, the system receives the selected potential transferees40 and converts them into actual transferees 30 by, for example, copyingrelevant information into the transferees data store 120.

In operation S260, the system may apply various analysis tools 150 toassist the transferor 20 in managing the resources, which may includethe resource/asset analysis tool 155, the risk analysis tool 160, thelong-term planning tool 165, and the historical database 170, asdescribed above. The availability of the analytical tools 150 may bepresented to the user as selectable elements on a web-based display ofthe collaboration portal 100.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that summarizes an implementation of a process 300that may be used by the collaboration portal 100 when interacting with atransferee 30. Similar to the above described access scenarios for thetransferor 20, the transferee 30 may interact with the collaborationportal 100 via a web-based application, a smart phone app. or any otherform of a system that may implement, for example, a client-serverarchitecture.

In operation S310, the portal 100 receives authentication for thetransferee 30. This may be performed by a transferee 30 accessing a webpage of the collaboration portal 100 and entering in a username andpassword or presenting some biometric data, for example, in a mannerthat may be similar or different from the authentication of thetransferor 20.

Once the transferee 30 is authenticated, in operation S320, the portalmay provide information to the transferee 30 related to the resourcesbased on access control restrictions. For example, the web page maypresent a list of assets 115 that the transferee 30 has been assigned bythe transferor, along with related metadata. The web page may alsopresent portions of the transfer instructions/digital will 125 that arerelevant to the transferee 30.

In operation S330, the portal 100 may apply analysis tools 150 to theresources for the transferee 30. Although certain analytical tools 150may be primarily for use by the transferor 20, other analytical tools150 may be useable by both the transferor 20 and the transferee. Forexample, the transferee 30 may request, by clicking an analysis menuitem presented on the web page, a value analysis of a particularresource utilizing the resource/asset analysis tool 155.

In operation S340, the portal 100 may provide for communications betweenthe transferee 30 and the transferor 20. For example, in oneimplementation, the transferee 30 may click on a “message” menu item onthe collaboration portal 100 web page to send a message to thetransferor 20 about a particular asset. The collaboration portal 100 mayopen another window, for example, with a text entry box into which thetransferee could enter a message to send to the transferor 20. Inanother implementation, the collaboration portal 100 may open a blankemail message directed towards the transferor 20 and into which thetransferee 30 may enter the message. In another implementation, ametadata entry may be provided by the transferee 30 and associated withthe asset. The communications may be in any form that assists thetransferee 30 to exchange information with the transferor or possiblyother transferees.

General Computer and Network Architecture

To describe some configurations in greater detail, reference is made toexamples of hardware structures and interconnections usable in thedesigns of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is a block diagramillustrating a machine that may be a computer on which various processesdescribed herein may be performed, such as a processor of thecollaboration portal 100 described above. The machine (e.g., computersystem) 400 may include a hardware processor 402 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardwareprocessor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 404 and astatic memory 406, some or all of which may communicate with each othervia an interlink (e.g., bus) 408. The machine 400 may further include adisplay unit 410, an alphanumeric input device 412 (e.g., a keyboard),and a user interface (UI) navigation device 414 (e.g., a mouse). In anexample described herein, the display unit 410, input device 412 and UInavigation device 414 may be a touch screen display. The machine 400 mayadditionally include a storage device (e.g., drive unit) 416, a signalgeneration device 418 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 420,and one or more sensors 421, such as a global positioning system (GPS)sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 400 mayinclude an output controller 428, such as a serial (e.g., universalserial bus (USB)), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared(IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) controller connection tocommunicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer,card reader, etc.).

The storage device 416 may include a machine readable medium 422 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 424(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 424 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 404,within static memory 406, or within the hardware processor 402 duringexecution thereof by the machine 400. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 402, the main memory 404, thestatic memory 406, or the storage device 416 may constitute machinereadable media.

While the machine readable medium 422 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 424.

The term “machine readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 400 and that cause the machine 400 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated withsuch instructions. Non-limiting machine readable medium examples mayinclude solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specificexamples of machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory,such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically ProgrammableRead-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such asinternal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; RandomAccess Memory (RAM); Solid State Drives (SSD); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROMdisks. In some examples, machine readable media may includenon-transitory machine readable media. In some examples, machinereadable media may include machine readable media that is not atransitory propagating signal.

The instructions 424 may further be transmitted or received over thecommunications network 405 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 420. The term “transmission medium” is defined hereinto include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carryinginstructions for execution by the machine, and includes digital oranalog communications signals or other medium to facilitatecommunication of such software.

The machine 400 may communicate with one or more other machines 400utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay,internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), userdatagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.).Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), awide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet),mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone(POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standardsknown as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE802.15.4 family of standards, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) family ofstandards, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) family ofstandards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, virtual private networks (VPN),or any other way of transferring data between machines 400. In anexample, the network interface device 420 may include one or morephysical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or moreantennas to connect to the communications network 426.

In an example, the network interface device 420 may include a pluralityof antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-inputmultiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ormultiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, thenetwork interface device 420 may wirelessly communicate using MultipleUser MIMO techniques.

A wide variety of computing devices may constitute a machine 400, asdescribed herein. The following list includes a variety of devices thatmay fit the definition of a machine 400: a personal data assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone, including a smartphone, a tablet computingdevice, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a workstation, a servercomputer, a mainframe computer, and the like.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a distributed system 500 that may include aclient-server architecture or cloud computing system. The system 500 maybe a system 10 as described above. Distributed system 500 may have oneor more end users 510. An end user 510 may have various computingdevices 512, which may be machines 400 as described above. The end-usercomputing devices 512 may comprise applications 514 that are eitherdesigned to execute in a stand-alone manner, or interact with otherapplications 514 located on the device 512 or accessible via the network405. These devices 512 may also comprise a data store 516 that holdsdata locally, the data being potentially accessible by the localapplications 514 or by remote applications.

The system 500 may also include one or more data centers 520. A datacenter 520 may be a server 522 or the like associated with a businessentity that an end user 510 may interact with. The business entity maybe a computer service provider, as may be the case for a cloud servicesprovider, or it may be a consumer product or service provider, such as aretailer. The data center 520 may comprise one or more applications 524and databases 526 that are designed to interface with the applications514 and databases 516 of end-user devices 512. Data centers 520 mayrepresent facilities in different geographic locations where the servers522 may be located. Each of the servers 522 may be in the form of amachine(s) 400.

The system 500 may also include publicly available systems 530 thatcomprise various systems or services 532, including applications 534 andtheir respective databases 536. Such applications 534 may include newsand other information feeds, search engines, social media applications,and the like. The systems or services 532 may be provided as comprisinga machine(s) 400.

The end-user devices 512, data center servers 522, and public systems orservices 532 may be configured to connect with each other via thenetwork 405, and access to the network by machines may be made via acommon connection point or different connection points, e.g. a wirelessconnection point and a wired connection. Any combination of common ordifferent connections points may be present, and any combination ofwired and wireless connection points may be present as well. The network405, end users 510, data centers 520, and public systems 530 may includenetwork hardware such as routers, switches, load balancers and/or othernetwork devices.

Other implementations of the system 500 are also possible. For example,devices other than the client devices 512 and servers 522 shown may beincluded in the system 500. In an implementation, one or more additionalservers may operate as a cloud infrastructure control, from whichservers and/or clients of the cloud infrastructure are monitored,controlled and/or configured. For example, some or all of the techniquesdescribed herein may operate on these cloud infrastructure controlservers. Alternatively, or in addition, some or all of the techniquesdescribed herein may operate on the servers 522.

Method examples described herein may be machine or computer-implementedat least in part. Some examples may include a computer-readable mediumor machine-readable medium encoded with instructions operable toconfigure an electronic device to perform methods as described in theabove examples. An implementation of such methods may include code, suchas microcode, assembly language code, a higher-level language code, orthe like. Such code may include computer readable instructions forperforming various methods. The code may form portions of computerprogram products.

Further, in an example, the code may be tangibly stored on one or morevolatile, non-transitory, or non-volatile tangible computer-readablemedia, such as during execution or at other times. Examples of thesetangible computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to,hard disks, removable magnetic disks, removable optical disks (e.g.,compact disks and digital video disks), magnetic cassettes, memory cardsor sticks, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), andthe like. The code may also be intangibly stored on one or morenon-transitory and non-volatile computer readable media, such as thosedescribed above. In these cases, instructions resident on the media areread and executed by a processor to perform various functions.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects/configurations thereof) may be used in combination with others.Other embodiments may be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in theart upon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is to allow thereader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure, forexample, to comply with 37 C.F.R. § 1.72(b) in the United States ofAmerica. It is submitted with the understanding that it should not beused to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be groupedtogether to streamline the disclosure. However, the claims cannot setforth every feature disclosed herein, as embodiments may feature asubset of said features. Further, embodiments may include fewer featuresthan those disclosed in a particular example. Thus, the following claimsare hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with a claimstanding on its own as a separate embodiment. The scope of theembodiments disclosed herein is to be determined with reference to theclaims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claimsare entitled.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for managinga collaboration portal, comprising: receiving, from a transferor, via anetwork interface: resource transfer information, comprising:identification of resources for a future transfer; identification oftransferees comprising the transferees to whom the resources willtransfer to in the future; and transfer instructions related to thefuture transfer of the resources to the transferees; and accessinstructions that allow the transferees to access the resource transferinformation; storing the resource transfer information in a resourcetransfer database that resides in a non-volatile memory of thecollaboration portal; receiving, from a transferee, via the networkinterface, a request to access the resource transfer information; andproviding, to the transferee via the network interface, limited accessto the resource transfer information based on the access instructions,the limited access including anonymization of information based onresources designated for transfer to the transferee, using a processorof the collaboration portal.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: modifying the resource transfer information; and providing,to the transferee, access to the modified resource transfer information.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: locating potentialtransferees, by a matching routine, based on descriptive informationassociated with a first resource, the locating using the descriptiveinformation as search criteria; presenting the located potentialtransferees to a benefactor; updating the resource transfer informationbased on benefactor selected data selected from the presented locatedpotential transferees.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:providing information to the potential transferees about the firstresource; and receiving information from the potential transfereesrelated to the first resource.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein thepotential transferees comprise organizations having a relationship witha first resource type.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferinstructions include conditions for transferring the resource to thetransferee.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising applyinguser-provided metadata tags to the transfer instructions.
 8. The methodof claim 7, wherein the metadata includes at least one of sectionidentifiers, transferees, access control information, a description of aresource, transfer conditions, or key dates.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising: assessing a value of the resources and providing itto the transferor or the transferee.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: making a recommendation to the transferor for allocatingresources to the transferee utilizing a historical database comprisingpast resource allocations between historical transferors and historicaltransferees.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: making arecommendation to the transferor for allocating resources to thetransferee utilizing a risk analysis tool.
 12. The method of claim 1,further comprising: adjusting the resource transfer information overtime based on a long-term planning tool that factors in an age of thetransferor or the transferee.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein thematching routine utilizes an artificial intelligence technique, aweighted factor analysis, or heuristic rules in determining thepotential transferees.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the potentialtransferees include relatives of the transferor.
 15. The method of claim1, wherein: the resource is a benefactor asset; the transferees arebenefactors to whom the asset will transfer; and the transferinstructions are at least partially contained in a digital will.
 16. Asystem for managing a collaboration portal, comprising: a hardwareprocessor; a storage device comprising a nonvolatile memory andconnected to the hardware processor comprising: resource transferinformation, comprising: identification of resources for a futuretransfer; identification of transferees comprising the transferees towhom the resources will transfer to in the future; and transferinstructions related to the future transfer of the resources to thetransferees; and access instructions that allow the transferees toaccess the resource transfer information; a network interface via which:a request to access the resource transfer information is received from atransferee; and limited access to the resource transfer informationbased on the access instructions is provided, utilizing the processor,to the transferee, the limited access including anonymization ofinformation based on resources designated for transfer to thetransferee.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein: the network interfaceis configured to receive search criteria related to a first resource;the processor is configured to: locate potential transferees, using amatching routine, based on the search criteria; present the locatedpotential transferees to a benefactor; and update the resource transferinformation based on benefactor selected data selected from thepresented located potential transferees.
 18. The system of claim 17,wherein the processor is configured to: provide information to thepotential transferees about the first resource; and receive informationfrom the potential transferees related to the first resource.
 19. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readablestorage medium including instructions that when executed by a processor,cause the processor to: receive, from a transferor: resource transferinformation, comprising: identification of resources for a futuretransfer; identification of transferees comprising the transferees towhom the resources will transfer to in the future; and transferinstructions related to the future transfer of the resources to thetransferees; and access instructions that allow the transferees toaccess the resource transfer information, wherein the resource transferinformation is stored in a memory of a collaboration portal; receive,from a transferee, via a network interface, a request to access theresource transfer information; and provide, to the transferee, limitedaccess to the resource transfer information based on the accessinstructions, the limited access including anonymization of informationbased on resources designated for transfer to the transferee, using aprocessor of the collaboration portal.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium media of claim 19, wherein theinstructions further cause the processor to: locate potentialtransferees, using a matching routine, based on search criteria relatedto a first resource; present the located potential transferees to abenefactor; and update the resource transfer information based onbenefactor selected data selected from the presented located potentialtransferees.